U.S. defense contractors Raytheon and Nightwing Group agreed to pay the government $8.4 million to settle allegations that Raytheon violated the terms of a contract with the Defense Department by not having ample cybersecurity protections.
According to the settlement agreement, from August 2015 through June 2021 the company’s CODEX division — short for Cyber Offense & Defense Experts — used a network that did not adhere to the government’s cybersecurity standards and which held non-classified defense information.
Raytheon, which according to the Thursday agreement does not admit to being at fault, allegedly failed to develop a “system security plan” describing security measures.
In May 2020, Raytheon allegedly informed government clients that the network was not in compliance with National Institute of Standards and Technology standards and that the company “was in the process of developing a robust system environment” that would replace it.
The settlement falls under the False Claims Act, a Civil War-era law that allows for civil damages against government contractors who violate the terms of their agreement. The law has been increasingly used as an enforcement mechanism to require contractors to live up to their cybersecurity obligations.
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